This type of task, which lead authors Masayuki Inaba and Kei Okada call "whole-body pushing manipulation with contact posture planning," is second nature to a human, but is actually quite complicated for a robot. The robot needs to try out a method, determine whether the force it's exerting on the object is insufficient, and then adjust its position and method accordingly in order to exert more force for heavier objects.

[Credit: University of Tokyo/JSK Laboratory]

In the video, the robot, called an HRP-2, determines several different positions that exert differing amounts of force, and if its sensors pick up that the object is still stationary, then it will autonomously choose a new position until one is successful:

The researchers stated that they plan to use this research to "apply the proposed method to other tasks with whole-body contact," although they don't specify what those tasks would be. Quarterback of a football team, perhaps?